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Congress' Attempt to Ban Trans* Kids from Sports [1]
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Date: 2025-01-12
The text of the first anti-trans bill of this Congress has been released. S. 9, the Protect Women and Girls in Sports Act, is sponsored by Tommy Tuberville and has (at present) 33 Republican co-sponsors. Its text would amend the provisions prohibiting discrimination based on sex (20 U.S.C. § 1681) which govern federal education funding by adding the following language (emphasis added):
“(d) (1) It shall be a violation of subsection (a) for a recipient of Federal funds who operates, sponsors, or facilitates athletic programs or activities to permit a person whose sex is male to participate in an athletic program or activity that is designated for women or girls. “(2) For purposes of this subsection, sex shall be recognized based solely on a person's reproductive biology and genetics at birth.”.
S. 9 was read twice on the Senate Floor this past week and is primed for a final vote at any time. We’ll know more tomorrow about a possible vote schedule.
Also, while the language for H.R. 28, Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2025, has not yet been released, I expect it will be shortly; it should closely track the language of the Senate bill. H.R. 28 is expected to get to the floor of the House for a vote this coming week. The earliest it is expected to come to a vote is Tuesday, January 14.
Turning back to Senate Bill 9, there are two things to note.
First, for this bill to work, there would need to be a repeal of the April 2024 Rule on Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Sex in Education Programs or Activities Receiving Federal Financial Assistance, because that regulation expanded sex-based protections to also include protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity. This is the Rule that is now subject to a nationwide injunction as of three days ago. I expect an early initiative of the Trump administration will be to formally repeal the Rule.
Second, Congress is attempting to seize this re-discrimination policy control over local school districts and educational institutions by leveraging the education funding provided to those systems by the federal government. Comparatively, the federal contribution to public schools is small, but remains non-negligible.
The lowest share of federal funding for public education is New Jersey (4.1%) and the highest is Alaska (15.9%).
I can’t imagine any state would give up much-needed school funding in the current environment, although it is a possible pressure point to advocate for your state and local governments to push back against this Bill by finding non-federal education funding sources, should it pass.
These bills have not yet passed, and there remains time to call your members of Congress to urge them to vote ‘no’.
To find your Members of Congress, check this site.
Great starter call scripts for H.R. 28 have been posted by Emily Quinn over on BlueSky, and they can be easily modified for calling your Senators about S. 9, as well:
If you are calling someone who is a Democrat, check out this script.
If you are calling someone who is a Republican, check out this script.
Build Community. Be strategic. We’re all in this together.
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